GV superintendent details budget challenges

After trimming $14 million in expenses over the last three years, Great Valley Schools Superintendent Alan Lonoconus gave residents his current assessment of the district Tuesday night, at a public budget meeting at Malvern Borough Hall.

“Right now we’re down to our basic level,” Lonoconus said. “Anything else, and you’re looking at major program cuts, and changing our whole philosophy.”

While much of the meeting focused on the $3.5 million budget gap for 2013-14, Lonoconus also spent a sizable portion discussing what will plague budgets throughout the state next year and beyond – the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) deficit.

Echoing a recent report by the Pennsylvania State Education Association, Lonoconus detailed what led to the massive retirement expenses districts now face.

In 2000, PESRS was funded at 123 percent, as a result of consistent 7 percent contributions by teachers, districts and the state, as well as solid investment returns. Looking at the numbers, the state dropped its and the districts’ commitment to just over 1 percent for 2001-02, which led to over a decade of underfunding.

“I can remember being in Harrisburg back then in my first year as a superintendent, and basically saying, ‘Do you know what you’re doing here?’” Lonoconus said. “We were right there telling them.”

Lonoconus said then-governor Tom Ridge made no secret of his intentions.

“He made a statement that he wanted to make public schools look bad so that he could get it out of the budget,” Lonoconus said. “He wanted to privatize all the schools, and there are still people in Harrisburg who think the same way.”

Nearly 13 years after the move, PESRS is funded at 68 percent, and districts are now forced to make up the gap. For Great Valley, pension costs this year are around $4.3 million. According to projections, the amount will jump 17 percent next year and more after that, landing at around $10 million in 2017-18.

In the last three years, like most districts, Great Valley has made some hard choices. Those include the elimination of nearly 50 staff members, including 20 teachers. With the workload of the former employees spread out over remaining ones, morale has been a frequent concern.

“I have to be very careful about pushing too much and know when to back off a little bit,” Lonoconus said. “They’re people, and you can’t run all the time at 110 percent.”

Lonoconus said no stone has been left unturned when it comes to possible savings, down to lowering the temperature in schools 2 degrees. One thing the district can’t do, he said, is neglect the buildings themselves.

“Coming from a district that did that, they had to close two buildings last year because they got so far behind on repairs,” Lonoconus said.

With just over 4,000 students, Lonoconus said that despite its challenges, Great Valley is still “better off than 90 percent” of the state’s districts. As planning for 2013-14 continues, preserving the integrity of the system is paramount.

“I just hope I can continue to keep us at the level of program and service that we have right now,” Lonoconus said. “We’re down to that point where if we go deeper, we’re going to cause ourselves problems.”